A’s strike out in effort to intervene in Strip ballpark lawsuit

The Oakland Athletics’ push to intervene in a lawsuit brought on by a Nevada teachers union group challenging Senate Bill 1 was denied last week by a Carson City District Court judge.

Judge Kristin Luis on Friday denied the A’s motion to intervene in the case filed by Nevada State Education Association-backed political action committee Strong Public Schools Nevada against the state of Nevada, Clark County, the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, Gov. Joe Lombardo and state Treasurer Zach Conine, citing the team’s involvement would delay the case and increase costs, according to court records obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The A’s motion, filed in April, claiming that the team should be included in the lawsuit because no other plaintiff named would be able to represent their interests as an MLB team.

Luis disputed the A’s claim in her order of denial, stating that government entities named in the lawsuit are the appropriate defendants in the case and including the A’s would add unnecessary issues.

“The presence of AIG (the A’s), a private party that only represents its own presumably profit-driven interests, will unduly expand the controversy,” Luis wrote in the court order.

The A’s didn’t immediately respond to comment Tuesday on the judge’s ruling.

Strong Public Schools spokesman Alexander Marks said the group is pleased with the court order and also believes that an A’s intervention would “only serve to delay and prejudice the adjudication of our constitutional challenge to SB1.”

The judge also noted the A’s are able to communicate any concerns during the court proceedings to the defendants and their legal counsel.

The lawsuit, filed in February and amended in March, claims that sections of SB1 are unconstitutional. Senate Bill 1, signed into law last year by Lombardo, earmarks up to $380 million in public funding to go toward the A’s planned $1.5 billion ballpark on 9 acres of the 35-acre Tropicana site.

The next step in the lawsuit will be oral argument regarding the defendants’ motion to dismiss the case. The court is in the process of setting that date.

Schools Over Stadiums, also backed by the Nevada State Education Association, lost a previous bid to bring Senate Bill 1 to a public vote. The Nevada Supreme Court, in May, upheld a decision last year by a lower court judge in favor of A’s lobbyists in a lawsuit against the PAC.

A’s plans

SB1 also gave the A’s 18 months from when the team’s relocation was approved by MLB to enter into multiple agreements with the Las Vegas Stadium Authority. That gives the A’s until May to have those agreements in place after MLB owners in November unanimously approved the team’s move to Southern Nevada.

Work is already well underway in that process, with the community benefits plans already approved by the stadium authority. The lease and non-relocation agreements were already presented to the board. Those agreements are being negotiated by the A’s and the authority.

The development agreement, which will break down the construction timeline and funding, has yet to be presented. The development agreement could be introduced as soon as the scheduled July 18 meeting.

Tropicana owner Bally’s Corp. is in the process of demolishing the Rat Pack-era resort. Plans call for the structure to be brought down in October via implosion. The A’s plan to begin construction on the team’s Las Vegas stadium in April.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.